How sleep determines our day and how to do it effectively
March 24, 1949, Prince William the disaster of one of the largest vessels on the water , a supertanker filled with 53 million gallons of crude oil. After running on the ground , it spilled more than 11 million gallons of crude oil devastating 23 species of wildlife and 13000 km wide shoreline habitat. It is deemed as the largest oil spill in one of the most devastating environmental disasters in American history.
The Challenger Explosion: The space shuttle exploded just seconds after its January 1986 launch, killing all seven crew members.
On December 3, 1984, more than 40 tons of methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, immediately killing at least 3,800 people and causing significant morbidity and premature death for many thousands more.
Wondering whats the one thing that connects all these disasters and tragedies? In each case, investigators found that the key person in each case suffered from sleep deprivation. It’s a worldwide problem and its getting worse.
In a survey by the National sleep foundation, they interviewed roughly 2000 people, and people openly admitted to forcing them to work despite having slept fewer hours than the recommended hours of sleep. How many of these people drove pass you today?
All human dependent jobs require the person to have a healthy lifestyle which includes good sleep, diet, etc which affect performance and could cause so many damages and destruction in real life.
EFFECTS OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION:
I found this useful and informative infographic on the internet.
Another survey by the PHILLIPS which covered almost 5 major countries and above 6000 people revealed that while most people are conscious of the importance of how crucial sleep is, but only some of them prioritize sleep over other things. When it comes to sleep, having a schedule is far more effective and reliable.
The majority of adults prefer other activities which range from watching movies to browsing, to spending time with families and partying, etc. People don’t pay enough attention to sleep and that not only affects their day but also their well being and mood.
Some common signs of not sleeping enough :
1. Looking tired
2. Feeling unmotivated
3. Unproductive
4. Headaches and Mood swings
Each sleep cycle lasts 90 minutes
A good night's sleep consists of five to six sleep cycles. During each cycle, our body goes through the following five sleep stages:
1. Light sleep stage
2. Light sleep stage
3. & 4. Deep sleep stage
5. Dream or REM sleep stage (REM stands for rapid eye movement. During REM sleep, your eyes move rapidly, and you experience vivid dreams).
If you wake up during one of these stages, you will feel sluggish and tired.
All of this destroys your work-life balance and puts everything in jeopardy and all it takes is one night's poor sleep to screw the entire week's sleep patterns and habits you worked so hard to develop.
Sleep on the other hand is not only redeemed natural remedy for depression but also for other fatigue related problems.
HIGHER SLEEP LINKED TO BETTER WELL BEING AND MOOD:
A survey conducted by GALLUP of over 7000 Americans of various ages concluded that the higher the number of hours, the higher the well being of the person. The peak was recorded at eight hours and the recommended sleep time is 7–8 hours for adults of age 18 and over by the World health organization and National Sleep Foundation
The survey also recorded at least 42% of the U.S population sleep for less than seven hours which is less than the recommended amount of sleep. In adults, it was observed that four in ten adults fall short for the recommended amount of sleep.
HOW TO FALL ASLEEP QUICKER AND EFFECTIVELY:
Don’t take my word for it, Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California Berkeley and author of why we sleep gives his take on how to sleep effectively and quicker
1. Maintain Regularity
Beyond carving out a non-negotiable 8-hour sleep schedule, the key is to go to bed and wake up at the same time even if it is the weekend. Despite getting a bad night’s sleep, stick to this regime of sleeping and waking at the fixed predetermined time.’
2. Keeping the lights dim
Darkness allows the flow of chemicals in the brain called Melatonin which allows the person to sleep better and effectively. It is the key to turn off or dim the lights, especially when it comes to electronics. Mobile and LEDs emit blue light which may trick the brain into thinking its daytime even if its nighttime. This stops the flow of the melatonin and hence sleeping becomes tougher.
3. Keeping it cool
Usually, warm temperatures in the bedroom create discomfort and elevate the time required to sleep. The more comfortable the body, the higher the chances of sleeping quickly. The optimum and recommended temperature for the bedroom or sleeping place is 68 Fahrenheit or 18 and a half Celsius, the reason the body core temperature needs to go down a bit to initiate sleep.
4. Stop lying in bed awake
The reason for this is very simple. if you keep lying on the bed without sleeping and performing other activities, the brain associates the bed as the place of being awake rather than being asleep. The advice here is to simply go for a walk, read books, etc but avoid food, electronics… if you have a hard time sleeping on the bed. Just don’t stay there lying awake.
The alternative to this is meditation. It leads to the relaxation of body and mind and suppresses and calm the fight or flight branch of the nervous system. This helps in keeping the mind quiet and clear of the analogous thoughts that might deter or disturb your sleep
5. Avoiding Alcohol and caffeine
Despite the majority of people believing, on the contrary, this opinion is very unpopular but backed by research. Alcohol is a class of drugs that we call Sedatives. It does not actually help you in natural sleep, it simply just knocks you out. A person may sleep but the quality of sleep is very much affected and you wake up feeling tired and frustrated. The reason is that it fragments your sleep so you wake up many times throughout the night. It is also a potent chemical that blocks your dream sleep or your REM sleep which is the deepest part of sleep or during which dreaming occurs.
Caffeine is also a major problem. It is a stimulant and an alerting chemical that helps you to stay awake. If you take a cup of coffee after dinner, even if you sleep and stay asleep after it, the depth of sleep is not as much as when you have abstained from the cup of coffee. What the consequence of this? You wake up feeling tired and lazy. Now you find yourself reaching for two or three cups of coffee in the morning, developing this dependency, this addiction cycle.
CONCLUSION:
To put it bluntly, if an average man lives a 100-year life, he spends almost 25 years sleeping. It is quite evident that sleep plays a huge role in our lives. A simple disturbance in our sleep cycle could cause massive hurdles in everything else. So we should focus more on getting enough sleep and doing it effectively. Thomas Dekkar once said:
“Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together”
